Why some Christians are not bothered about Christians in Iraq and Syria?

The acts by terrorists against Christians in Iraq and Syria are horrible. Little children are killed by being beheaded while some others are being crucified by terrorists. Beheaded, crucified, killed, you read that right. Women are ravaged and even sold into slavery to lustful men. The men are killed right away. Not just Christians but also other minorities. This is a work of great wickedness by the terrorists and must be stopped. The only thing equally despicable is the attitude of some Christians with regards to this. They are simply not bothered about it. Not a bit.

Certain churches make it a point not to announce prayers for the victims of terrorism in the recent attacks on Christians in Syria and Iraq. They may get ‘offended’ when someone drops a feather on their religious leaders but don’t feel a thing when bombs are dropped on Christians. For them until and unless their little preacher asks them to pray they won’t pray about it. The preacher too is at fault. It’s a very simple reason and I tell you why.

The reason why some Christians are not bothered about Christians in Iraq and Syria is because those Christians over there do not belong to the same religious denomination as theirs. No wonder their sufferings and martyrdom means nothing to such legalistic Christians. I can firmly say that it means a lot to Jesus Christ who said in Luke 12:8 “Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God”

What a selfish attitude indeed! People who watch movies in which actors may be atheist, pray for the welfare of such actors but decline praying for Christians of other denominations. Nothing wrong in praying for an atheist. But something is lacking when you are indifferent to the sufferings of your Christian brethren.

What hypocrisy indeed! Saying that God is love but refusing to pray for Christians who need your loving prayers and help. I too had a choice about this. I’ve been taught by different people about the teachings of the Christian faith at various times in my life. This relates to just one set of them at a certain time. My religious teachers taught me different religious things for which I’m grateful. But one thing caused me to turn my back against them. I and my friends heard about a bomb attack against a Christian church in Pakistan. So we requested our main religious teacher to hold a prayer service for the victims and their surviving families. To our shock, the religious preacher told us not to. One of my mates wanted to know why (I felt maybe he wanted to confirm the international news). To which we were told as the people in that Pakistani church do not belong to our denomination we must not consider praying for them. He reminded us to pray only for our denomination and to not be interested about the rest. As a result no prayers could be said for them. This made me to question my motives for being with such teachers of the faith. That day, I secretly prayed for the Pakistani church that got affected. Months later I left the religious teachers for good. Didn’t want to be legalistic, self seeking and ethnocentric like them. They still wish I turn back to them for ‘training and commissioning’ but I feel God doesn’t want me to go back. That settles it for me.

With this apathy of indifferent Christians on one hand and the genuine faith of the Iraqi and Syrian Christians on the other hand, I’m reminded of Judgement day. That too in particular the verses of Matthew 25:31-46 which quote the Lord Jesus himself saying:

“When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’
And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

So by these verses we are reminded to consider the needs and welfare of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Do whatever is in your power to help the suffering Christians in Iraq and Syria. Speak words of blessings for those Christians in the name of Jesus. Spread awareness of their troubles to others. Speak to your pastor about it. If you are able then please donate to the relevant and genuine organizations that provide aid to the affected individuals.

One more thing you can do. Pray for the total defeat of the terrorists who in truth don’t really serve God but say they are heaven bound. They claim to fight for God but are slaves of their greed, lust and power which is nothing more than idolatry. Pray that the anti terrorist forces of the Peshmerga (Kurdish) men and women and also other groups who are protecting the Kurds, Christians and other minorities receive all the graces of our Lord Jesus to put an end to those blood thirsty evil doers. Do this all in faith, hope and love.